Image: Volunteers in the Contact Centre in 2006. For many years, Distress Centre volunteer and staff training included presentations by members of what was then known as the GLBTT community. Calls about various aspects of human sexuality and relationships were a staple of both volunteer training role plays and actual calls. It was not until June...
In the sixth month of our COVID-19 response, we continue to support Calgarians by providing 24/7 crisis and 211 phone support, daily chat and ConnecTeen text support. Counselling sessions are being conducted by phone and video. If you need help, please reach out. Since our last update, we experienced an unmanageable increase in contacts from people...
Image: Created from the graphic used in Annual Reports to report on the Men's Line. As the Board and management were looking to broaden services in the early 1990s, clients experiencing potential and actual family violence were requesting counselling in increasing numbers. In 1997, a proposal for a Men’s Domestic Crisis Line was put forward by...
In Week 25 of our COVID-19 response, we continue to support Calgarians by providing 24/7 crisis and 211 phone support, daily chat and ConnecTeen text support. Counselling sessions are being conducted by phone and video. If you need help, please reach out. We’re proud that we’ve been able to support Calgarians through such a difficult time....
On March 17, Distress Centre moved from operating entirely on premises to operating entirely remotely for the initial phase of its emergency operations with no disruption to Distress Centre’s services. Distress Centre’s COVID-19 Response Team and all staff and volunteers have demonstrated an exceptionally high-level of commitment and passion for serving people in crisis and...
Client confidentiality has always been foundational to Distress Centre’s work. Occasionally callers or counselling clients choose to make their stories public, to increase awareness of the service, or help with fundraising. It seems important to include at least one client story, as clients represent the heart and purpose of the work. Many thanks to Judy...
Our office remains closed but all of our services are open and available by phone or online, including our crisis line, online chat, ConnecTeen, 211 and counselling services. If you need help, please reach out. We’re proud that we’ve been able to support Calgarians through such a difficult time. Here is one story of how we...
CALGARY – Distress Centre Calgary is reporting a rising number of crisis contacts related to COVID-19, a caseload that is expected to continue growing over the coming months and even years as the pandemic, and its long-term effects, continue to impact Albertans. The Centre received its first COVID-19 related call on January 26, and as of April 28 received over 37,000 contacts on its 24 hour 211 and crisis lines, daily...
Image: Dakota Douglas, Crisis Team Lead, working remotely from home. As the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic became undeniable in March, the Distress Centre leadership team and Board had a decision to make. For the safety and health of our volunteers and staff, we decided to completely close our office on March 17th, 2020. Behind the scenes,...
Our office remains closed but all of our services are still available by phone or online, including our crisis line, online chat, ConnecTeen, 211 and counselling services. We are continuing to put measures in place to ensure that continuous crisis and 211 support is available in the coming weeks and months so that we can...
